Chapter 3 - The Thick Black Folder
*The Grandview Hospitality Group reserves the absolute right to suspend, terminate, or immediately vacate all contracted services, facilities, equipment, and personnel without penalty or refund of deposits, upon the determination by the Primary Obligor or the General Manager that the premises have become an unsafe, abusive, or hostile work environment for staff, guests, or the contracting party. In the event of an invocation of Section 14.3 by the Primary Obligor, all sub-contracted services shall cease forthwith, and the facility shall be cleared within sixty (60) minutes of written or verbal notice.*
Marianne lowered the phone. She held the ice pack against her cheek with her left hand while her right thumb hovered over the keyboard.
Through the heavy oak doors, she heard the sound of Richard Hollingsworth’s voice. He had taken the wireless microphone from the bandleader. His voice was thick with twelve-year-old scotch—scotch that Marianne had authorized on the secondary tab because Ethan had told her Richard would be "disrespected" if he had to drink the standard pour.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Richard was braying, his voice echoing off the limestone walls of the ballroom, "if I could have your attention... to my daughter, Tiffany. The most beautiful girl in Kentucky tonight. And to the Hollingsworth family name, which has always stood for the finest things this county has to offer!"
A roar of applause went up. Someone whistled through their teeth.
Marianne looked down at her phone.
She typed seven words:
*Samuel. Invoke Section 14.3 immediately. Shut it down.*
She hit send.
May you like
She did not wait in the vestibule. She turned and walked down the wide, carpeted corridor toward the north office, the ice pack held firm against her flesh, her heels clicking on the parquet with the measured, terrifying regularity of an executioner’s drum.
---
